Waimea Tramping Club Inc
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Waimea Tramping Club Inc. 72 Chelsea Ave, Richmond 7020 www.waimeatrampingclub.org.nz www.facebook.com/waimeatrampingclub Newsletter Vol 49, No 2, June 2021 Editor’s Report Winter weather seems to have come early this year, with fresh snowfalls on the ranges in late April and early May, while some wet weather recently has resulted in a few cancelled tramping trips. Upcoming trips in the June to September programme include 13 day trips and three weekend trips. Six trips are in our local area while two trips each travel to Kahurangi, Abel Tasman and Nelson Lakes, while one trip is heading to the Marlborough Sounds. For some variety there is also one biking trip and one caving trip. Robert Wopereis Top Shot St Arnaud Range, Nelson Lakes National Park Club Nights 7:30pm, Fish & Game Council Rooms, Champion Road, Richmond Wednesday 7 July: Equipment Talk Chris Ecroyd and Di Dowle will lead a discussion on tramping equipment with some samples to demonstrate. The emphasis will be on lightweight and/or inexpensive gear. Wednesday 4 August: Photograph Competition Come and view the best pictures taken by club members over the past year, and cast your vote in the People's Choice Award. Winners go forward to the FMC national competition. Entries close 23 July - full details (and past winning shots) are on the club website under Reports & News. Wednesday 1 September: Te Araroa Trail Jennifer Thomas has been doing the Te Araroa Trail in sections, starting at Cape Reinga and now halfway down the South Island. She will talk about her experience so far. 1 Club News 2021 Annual General Meeting President’s Report At my count we had 97 members in 2021. The eleven-week restrictions caused by the Covid-19 lockdown cancelled 13 planned trips in 2020. Bad weather caused the cancellation of another 4 trips and one trip was cancelled due to low numbers. In spite of all this there has been a record number of trampers out on club trips, from recent records. We still managed to run 41 trips in 2020 (45 trips in 2019). The club hosted 565 people out on all trips this year, the most on record, and up on the 493 in 2019. There were 31 day trips (14 on a Saturday and 17 on a Sunday), 5 overnight trips and 5 long weekend trips. There were 6 trips with more than 20 participants, all more than the highest number of 19 in 2019. The highest number was 30 trampers on the Kina Peninsula trip on 12th September 2020. The average numbers on day trips was 15 and overnight tramps averaged 8. Our long weekend trips averaged 11 trampers. It is evident from these statistics that there has been a post Covid surge in tramping in our club this year. We had 14 trip leaders in 2020 compared to 16 the year before. Our thanks go to these leaders Julian (8 trips) Diane (6) Alison, Esther, Maria, Robert (5), Marian, Chris, Colin, David S, David W, Sue J and Rob. It is great that we have a number of club members who willingly offer to lead these trips. There is a bit of work involved and it is always great to hear heartfelt thanks to the leaders at the conclusion of the trip. We all need to be mindful that overnight trips are much harder to organise, and leaders need clear commitments well in advance and utmost consideration of the arrangements made. With the larger numbers we all need to be aware of keeping a balance within the group. The ASAPs (get there as quick as possible) need to consider the competing interests of those who love to photograph or botanise bird watch or the shinrin yokus among us (immersing oneself in the forest and soaking in the atmosphere through the senses) and vice-versa. We have had two members who have had unfortunate accidents this year. Both incidents were handled extremely well but we all need to be aware that there is safety in numbers, and we are lucky to have such experienced and well-trained club members. In November, the club donated $1,000 from club funds to the Nelson Marlborough Helicopter Trust on behalf of members. The club has also hosted some interesting club nights such as Ray Salisbury’s talk on the Mt Arthur Tableland and an interesting night in December with members bringing their own photos. We also hosted a photo competition, and we used a very competent external judge. The standard of our photographs is in my view excellent and this was confirmed by our external judge. I would like to thank all the members on our committee. They all do a great job behind the scenes and enable the club to flourish. Our secretary does an amazing job and now is the time to look for a replacement as she has given notice that this will be her last year Our thanks go to Robert who does an amazing job, not only as an active club member but also as editor and producer of our wonderful newsletters and represents the club interests at various liaison meetings. Our thanks to Di for so efficiently managing our finances and our online communications. Our thanks also to Maria for the work that she does managing a contract with DOC enabling us to contribute to the maintenance of the Chrome Track and hut work and the work that she and Rob and others complete. It is time for the club to find new committee members. Advancing age means that some of us find it difficult to remain as active members and it’s time for others to step up. – Julian Edmonds Castle Rock Hut repaint On Wednesday 14th April, Eric, Maria and Rob walked in to Castle Rock Hut on the Abel Tasman Inland Track to clean and paint the interior of that hut. DOC had previously flown in all the gear we would need and also shut the hut so we could work without worrying about others coming in to stay. There were a couple of older style tents among the gear in case someone missed the closure notice or signs at each track entry. Fortunately these were not needed. 2 After walking in, we spent the rest of the day scrubbing and sanding all the interior of the hut in preparation for painting. The next day, we did the first coat of paint in the morning and the second coat in the afternoon. In between, Rob scrubbed and repainted the toilet interior and collected some firewood, while Maria and Eric did some more cleaning and tidying up. Once the painting was all completed we cleaned the windows inside and out and washed down the mattresses. On Friday morning we packed up and returned to Canaan happy with our couple of days work. Rob has offered to lead a trip to Castle Rock Hut towards the end of July so people can enjoy the clean interior. WAIMEA TRAMPING CLUB PHOTO COMPETITION Come and view the best pictures taken by club members over the past year, and cast your vote in the People's Choice Award. Winners go forward to the FMC national competition. Entries are due by Friday 23 July 2021. Club night presentation is Wednesday 4 August 2021. For rules & conditions see the club website or lookout for a club email. Categories: • Above the Bushline (With No Human Element) • Above the Bushline (With a Human Element) • Below the Bushline (With No Human Element) • Below the Bushline (With a Human Element) • Native Flora & Fauna DOC News Price increase and changes to the Backcountry Hut Pass DOC is increasing the price of the Backcountry Hut Pass from 1 July 2021 (the price hasn’t changed in the last 10 years). 12 month hut pass: $144 (was $122) 12 month hut pass with 30% FMC discount: $100 (was $85) 6 month hut pass: $108 (was $92) DOC has reviewed and simplified the huts excluded from use from the Backcountry Hut Pass so that it’s now valid for all Serviced and Standard huts except those with bespoke prices and allows the pass to be used off- peak for all huts, except Great Walks. Price increase on Great Walks New prices are being implemented for the Great Walks in the 2021 - 2022 summer season (October to April) to improve cost recovery and reflect the value of the facilities. New prices for NZ residents are: Milford Track $78 per night (was $70), Kepler Track $68 (was $65), Routeburn Track $68 (was $65), Abel Tasman Coast Track $42 (was $38), Heaphy Track $37 (was $34), Rakiura Track $37 (was $24) and the Tongariro Northern Circuit $37 (was $36). Prices remain unchanged for the Paparoa Track at $45 and the Lake Waikaremoana Track at $32. Price increase for popular multi-day tramps Popular tracks including the Travers-Sabine Circuit, Greenstone-Caples and Rees-Dart have new prices being implemented for the 2021/22 summer season (October to April). The new prices are considered to better reflect the value of the experience and assist with improving costs recovery from the users of the facilities. The price increases from $15 to $20 per night. The winter season price remains $15 per night. 3 An eventful day Lake Rotoiti Circuit – Sunday 10 January 2021 A large group set off from Richmond on a very fine morning. We were split into two groups so that we could manage the numbers as a crossover. The logistics worked well and we set off along the Lakeside Track, pausing at Whiskey Falls for morning tea and then on to Coldwater Hut where we had some lunch.